Semi-veggie
 

That's cool


I'm sorta semi-veggie; I don't eat mammals. Haven't for about a year & 1/2. It's mostly for health reasons, I'm 15 lbs above my target weight, but also because i don't agree with the way americans treat their mammals/livestock. Y'know, improper housing and food that contains meat for animals that are supposed to be herbivores. I'd like to go completely veggie, but I can't give up fish and I still live with my parents so we've comprimised to allow chicken.

That's exactly how I am!!! Exactly to the point. I agrred to eat chicken and fish. But when I move out one day, I want to become a full vegetarian. And I also disagree with how people treat their livestock, it makes me sick. I can't think of eating animals when they were treated only led to their death and then to end up in my stomach. Makes me want to hurl sometimes.

Eh... I'm weird... I hate how we treat/kill livestock (esp. the fact we dub them "inferior"). And dont eat meat, but I do drink lots of milk and once in a while I eat bacon... the only meat I eat. Strange that, since pigs are the closest genetic relative to humans ... as far as livestock are concerned. (yes, that was poking fun/trying to be humorous... c'mon its a goth forum cannibalism has to be poked at once in a while-- though seriously pigs are very closely related to us... they're even trying to genetic engineer pigs with human organs for transplants... and the question of weather meat from these animals would still be sold is still up in the air)

At any rate... I think about the animal that gave its life every time I do eat bacon. I think it makes me a better person for concidering what most people shrug off or deny a claim to life as "inferior" just so they can get food they enjoy the taste of.

Of course... being a man of science... we are omnivores... and are natural hunters.... so its not like there is anything wrong with eating meat... its just perverse the way we abuse and neglect animals... and the way we devalue their lives simply for profit or food. I dont care what people eat... just respect animals, thats all I ask!

Well I think cannibalism could be a viable alternative to killing and consuming animals. It would also control the growth rate of the Human species. =P

The idea of cannibalism makes me sick. But so does eating animals. I mean yeah, I do eat chicken and sometimes bacon now. And I eat eggs and drink a ton of milk. But for some reason I do not consider eating eggs or drinking milk a bad thing if they are organic. Cows need to be milked, and chickens, they have to lay their eggs. But for some reason it just makes me sick to think of eating a human, so eating an animal to me is no different.

We are all animals, and all the other species of animals are far more deserving of this planet than we are. My comment was more tongue in cheek than anything else.

Thank you for that last sentence in the above post.

I must stress that I would not consider eating a human being although I dont think twice about eating poultry or meat. Its a social taboo is all it is that makes me/us abhor such an idea.

Like you said, we are all animals, something I agree with completely. However, I'd be a hypocrite if I were to say I wouldnt ever do it and I'd rather be called a cannibal than a hypocrite.

I must say I've always loved Swift's solution for overpopulation and poverty.
If third world countries did sell their babies to be eaten, they would earn some good money.
The problem would be that maybe they would reproduce even more to sell even more.
Moral issues?
It's only sick when society thinks it's sick. Just study all the sexual freedoms of Ancient Greece to understand how the moral view of people changes with society.

Godslayer... dont even have to go that far back to see weird stuff, look at the Japanese reguards to prostitution, etc.... To us its weird to them its normal. From a certain perspective nothing humans do is weird, it is our nature. For some reason we're driven to define good and bad on everything we do. To be honest its probably the one reason we fight so much.

i was a vegitarian till i was ... 10 or 11.now i eat meat but only chicken , turkey shrimp and crab. ive considered going back to no meat mostly for health reasons i dont think there is any thing wrong with eating meat (but i think that the way some animals are treated b4 they are made into food is foul keeping little baby cows in boxes) just realize that another life form died to feed u b thankfull.
the meat i do eat comes fron the health food store it makes me feel gross to think of all the hormones and other things pumped into animals and to then put that into ur body. icky

Now my eyes are definitely bleeding.

That is very true though. We do find things disgusting that society says is gross. Think about it, if no one had questioned cannibalism, then it would be fine in the world. But still, there is a fine line between murder and cannibalism. But we murder animals every day as well. Maybe one day though, society will evolve and we will not care one way or the other.

mine too......my head hurts...


i was a vegetarian for almost 5 months, but i cant process plant protein well enough to stop eating meat. i got really sick, and now i have to eat meat. but i dont like eating it.

why must u make fun of my posts?

Bleed: It would help your cause if you could express yourself clearly, and to do that, you must write clearly. Otherwise, your challenged grammar distracts from what you are trying to say.

This community is a well read, highly developed one, with above average intelligence (I can only keep up with them because of the brute strength of long experience, which is still no match for natural analytical ability). To reach this audience requires disciplined communication skills.

I hope you take my advice in the kind manner in which it is intended. The best of luck to you.

Humane has a very good point. But no worries, we do not hate you because of this. We just like the English language not to be butchered if possible.

Let's see, I've been vegetarian for a good 2 years now. My parents are avid meat-eaters though & my stepdad hates the whole concept. ANYWAY! I do cook alot of the meals at my house, so I will cook meat but prefer not to eat it. I don't drink milk, it makes me sick. So I guess you could say I'm vegetarian for both ethical and health reasons.

The only meat that my mother eats is poultry (though the amount is slowly dwindling down to nothing) and seafood. Her reasons are ethical, I suppose-- while she doesn't care if anyone else eats meat, she can't stand to eat anything more intelligent than a cow. She has no problem with leather.

I don't eat much red meat or pork because of this, but I don't mind much. I enjoy steaks and hamburgers occasionally, but I'm content to eat them only at restaurants. I do, however, wear a lot of leather. I have an all-leather messenger bag, and most of my belts and shoes are leather.

I've always thought that the best way to make eating meat 'fair' for the animals would be to kill them yourself with your teeth-- just like nature intended.

Humm. I've been a vegetarian for over three years, though for about a year of that (first 6 months or so, and currently) I have eaten fish for health reasons.

I agree with that last statement above...I have no real problem with hunters, fishermen, or the like. If you get your own food, that's respectable (and more healthy) because you are there for the whole process. People would never eat meat if they saw what happens in slaughterhouses and meat-packing plants.

I *also* do wear leather. I like leather, what can I say? I know it's the same thing as eating meat...I don't deny that it's hypocritical. But as long as I keep my beliefs and eating habits to myself, my vegetarianism is more of a minor personal choice, not something around which my entire life revolves.

But following the logic of getting our own food, we shouldn't eat vegetables unless they're from our own garden.

I am a carnivore, I have worked in a slaughterhouse, and I love eating nearly all veggies. I do not see any error to may eating habits except the occasional fast food eating.

I am always perplexed by the holier-than-thou type who treat their eating habits as a moral code or religion. A close friend of mine was a vegetarian. His reason was due to the fact he grew up in a household without many meat dinners so he really wasn't jazzed about the taste of meat and preferred vegetables. I can understand that reason.

I always wonder about those who state the cruelty these animals face. My grandparents have a ranch. The cows wander back an forth eating the grass and such. When winter arrives, they would break out the hay from storage ensuring the cows are well fed. The cows were also vaccinated, defended against wild animals (such a coyotes), water was brought to them, and types of food similar to candy are fed to them in order to make them pack on the weight. From my personal observation, I would say the animals used for meat production are well treated and pampered. Cows used for milk are also well treated. However, the chickens used for egg production are not treated very well as they are locked into a cage to confine movement as they lay.

I also scratch my head at the notion of eating meat being immoral. Is not yanking a carrot out of the ground ending a life? What about cutting down that tree for building material? Just because a tree doesn't have those beady little eyes to look at you makes their life different? I also ask what would we do if the whole world were to become vegan or vegetarian? We would have to slaughter nearly all of these domesticated animals. They couldn't survive on their own and many have been gentically changed from their original species by thousand of years of breeding.

I don't like the way some fast food restaurants inject horomones into the animals to save money. It causes them to grow more limbs and such. That, makes me sick. But I am now just not eating red meat. I just don't like it. And white meat is leaner and healthier. But otherwise, veggies and fruits to me just taste better.

Can sum up my religion in one short statement:

I love meat.

I've totally already covered my view of vegitarianism as being ridiculous (especially for atheists) in another thread so I won't bother to re-paste it unless it is necessary.

Darwinism. DARWINISM.

It is all good and jolly to love animals and pet them and care about their feelings, but kids, when you come right down to it, they ARE inferior. The human race wins, we claim the spoils. That's how it works.

Period.

I am slowly cutting meat out of my diet. I really don't like the taste of red meats, and I don't like the way chickens and poultry are treated on most farms.I don't eat any fish, I don't like it. Besides, I keep fish myself, and they definitley have personalities.

I would love to have a house with some land next to it, in which I could at least keep a few hens ( as pets ) and obtain my own eggs. My gran used to have a few chickens that were very tame. One of them used to sit on her lap and lay an egg! She had to sit there for ages until the shell had hardened :)

I have no problem with hunting for your own food as long as you only take what is actually required/needed. I think that if, for example, you kill a rabbit, you should kill it as quickly as physically possible, and use as much of the animal as possible. If something has to die for your gain and appetite, I think that at least you should do it the honour of not wasting it's carcass. After all, very very little is wasted in nature when an animal is kiled by a predator.

I have been given the argument by some that, if we are descended from monkeys/apes, then we do not need meat, as they don't eat it, and that our canines were originally for display only. I had to put them right on that count, as I have seen footage of chimpanzees killing smaller monkeys and eating them. They chased a little colobus ( I think ) monkey through the trees until they had it cornered, and then proceeded to tear it apart whilst it was still alive and screaming. I can't remember if it was on Natural world or David Attenborough, but anyway, all they could say to that was " yea whatever ". HA!.

I have problems with people who hunt just for fun and don't use the meat. I think that's sick and there should be some law against it. Killing animals should not be a sport. As killing humans for fun is illegal.

I couldn't eat Bambi anyways.

I absolutley DETEST hunting for the hell of it. I really hate foxhunting with a passion. Farmers say that the foxes kill their chickens? get better fencing dickheads!! People say they carry distemper? there is a vaccine against it!!! If they can't be arsed to immunise their dogs then that's their idiocy and their fault if the dog picks it up.

Over here they banned foxhunting, but there is one major loophole in the ban. If the hunters do what is known as a dry hunt, (using artificial scent and a bloke running a couple of miles in front to lay the trail) and a real fox happens to pop up along the way, then the fox will be killed because they cannot call off the dogs. These dogs have been bred and trained to do what they do ( also wrong in my opinion) and it is too far ingrained within the breed . They simply ignore all calls and horns and kill the fox as they have been bred and taught. So foxes are still dying brutally and far outnumbered.

Also, since the advent of synthetic fibres, we no longer need fur from animals, and thus we have another reason why foxhunting is cruel and unnessesary. You can't eat the meat, and you don't need the fur to survive a cold winter. It's just barbarism and bloodlust for pleasure.

I didn't know about that. That is disgusting and cruel. And that is very wrong to train those dogs to do something like that. That's heart breaking in a way. I love foxes, they are beautiful creatures.

British Foxhunting has been going on for centuries sadly. The foxhound is an official kennel club breed. I went to the royal show with a friend ( horse show) and there was all kinds of support in favour of foxhunting and the country alliance. I almost chewed my lips off trying to stay silent, since most of the people there were ca supporters, and they simply will not be reasoned with.

There was a little demonstration, involving a huntmaster bringing his hounds into a little arena, and explaining to people that these dogs are not viscious ect, then all the children were allowed into the area to stroke the dogs ect. Basically they were trying to inform people that the dogs weren't inherently viscious rabid animals. Naturally they aren't around people. But if someone had put a fox in that arena it wouldn't have lasted two minutes.

I have no problem with the actual dogs or the breed, it's the purpose they are used for.

Yes, I agree. I mean I love dogs, but if they are used to do something like that, I must say I do not like that. But you're right, if this has been going on for centuries then people will not be reasoned with easily, or at all. Which makes me sad. It's cruel to the foxes and the dogs in a way.

One of their main arguments is " it's tradition " Killing something that has no chance whatsoever of defending itself is a tradition? Sick is what it is. >:(

Also, when a child ( oh yes, they bring up their children to appreciate and participate in the bloodshed) partakes of their first hunt, they actually stiil do the ritual of smearing the foxes blood on the childs cheek/face. Like some kind of initiation into the hunt. Sick.

That is one of the most disgusting things I have ever heard. Tradition my ass. They need a new tradition that celebrates the creatures on earth, not kill them.

i am being more careful about what i eat, and im back to being a vegetarian...im almost a vegan, but i LOOOOVE these cookies that have a milk derivative in them. so i dont count as vegan :(

and foxhunting pisses me off to NO END. i live right next to Middleburg, VA....Hunt Country, USA

bleh

So why don't we kill defenseless babies as well? What makes a human life worth more than a fox's life?

Foxes are such pretty, graceful (almost in a feline way) animals.

I am all for eating meat myself, but killing for sport saddens me. Welcome to our world.

Okay, so - like - I'm totally not a vegetarian, but - like - okay - check this out ..

Alright, that's enough goofy writing.

I am of the belief that I feel better when I eat primarily grains, fruits, veggies and other non-meat items - preferrably the non-manufactured, non-meat items.

However, I do still love a good steak - but it has to be good.

I do not believe in hunting animals for sport - nor do I wear fur. I do wear leather, however.

There are those who believe we are technologically beyond the need for meat, leather and the like - I believe this could be true, but I'm not much into the soy burger (Boca Burgers, as they are called in South Florida). Whatever.

So ... that's my input, for what it's worth.

And yes, foxes are nearly cat-like! Thanks, Mir, for pointing making that observation.

And I drink milk and eat cheese ... for goodness' sake, we can't be totally fruity, can we?

Milk is good for the bones, or so they would have you believe. In any case, is drinking milk, going against vegan beliefs? I'm not sure. Can the vegans clear this one up please? Because I fail to see the problem with drinking milk. Cows/goats need to be milked. Thats just the way it is. Hmm, I wonder if they enjoy being milked.. =P

In any case not drinking milk seems more logical than not eating meat.
Other animals eat meat, but we are the only species that drinks the milk from a creature with which we can't mate. Sure, you see kitties and sometimes dogs drinking cow's milk, but that's because of their domestication; it's neither instinctive nor necessary.

Basically, cows are kept almost constantly pregnant in order for them to produce milk. Then when they have the calf, it is taken away too soon and fed on formulas laced with artificial supplements and hormones in order for it to grow more muscle and flesh than it should. Then they are sold for slaughter.

The calf should be left with it's mother until it is able to fend for itself as nature intended. We aren't biologically designed to drink cows milk, or any other animal milk ( other than our own ) for that matter , as Jillian said.

I'm not vegan , but that's how I see it as being wrong, which is why I drink and consume as little as possible. I hope to cut it out altogether if I can. I like soya milk, it's kind of nutty to the taste.:)

This is true, and is the reason why so many human beings become intolerant to lactose after infancy; they simply don't need it anymore.

But really, I have no right to talk on the subject of why we drink cow's milk just because I love the stuff so damn much. I couldn't give it up even if all the cows in the world begged me to. And as I think I said earlier in the thread, I try to only buy organic milk from 'happy cows'.

Anyway, on the subject of meat: I've now officially given up eating mammals. My reason: Azerbaijan is a land of lamb kebab, and about every 100m along the main roads there are small slaughtering areas with corpses just hanging from trees being skinned and chopped up, with groups of extremely frightened sheep huddling below them, waiting their turn. I've always known the pain that goes on in slaughterhouses, but seeing those dangling, dead lumps of flesh next to the terrified, alive lumps of flesh was the final straw (especially when you're being served copious amounts of lamb kebab every night), so I'm done.

I agree with you 100%. It's the food chain, right? And we're above them on the food chain. So let's eat them!

Except that (sorry, Uncle Ben, I'm a plagiarist) with great power comes great responsibility. And we have a responsibility to those beneath us to be humane. That doesn't mean we shouldn't eat animals, but it means that we shouldn't mistreat them before we do.

I'm a vegetarian because I can't afford free-range, and I think it's my responsibility to not eat animals that have been mistreated. When I'm no longer a poor 20-year-old student(ish), I will eat meat because I will be able to afford organic free-range meat.

It has nothing to do with ownership-- merely the means of acquisition. Following my logic, one should only eat vegetables that one personally picked and that grew naturally.

Of course, following my logic, civilization would never have formed.

I'm a vegetarian for ethical reasons. I've seen photos and videos of what goes on oin slaughterhouses, and that was eough for me.

...Organic free-range?

The slaughter process of cattle over here is fairly quick and painless. I have seen footage.

Basically the person doing the job has what looks like a gun. Instead of a bullet there is a long sharp spike. When the trigger is pulled the spike is driven into the brain at high speed, and the cow simply drops. The legs twitch a few times and thats it. Dead.
What I don't like to see is the fear in the animals eyes. It seems to know exactly why it is there and what is going to happen.

Still, I don't like the taste of beef pork and lamb anyway so I don't eat it. My mom is cooking Chicken for dinner today, but I've said I don't want any. I'll have vegetable rice instead :)

I stopped eating meat in May of 2004. I don't eat any meat...no fish or poultry. I initially did it for health reasons, but now it's also for ethical reasons. Doing so has really opened up my diet to eating dishes I never would have thought to eat before, and it's been great. I get more than enough protein and actually, as I discovered a few months ago, I've finally got my iron count up to normal for the first time since I was a teen.

I haven't read through this whole thread...I scanned through, read bits. I think I saw a lot of conversation about the morality of eating animals, and only a few people mentioned the cruel industry that meat eating generally supports, which I thought was strange because that's the only moral question I see. We can argue over what does and doesn't deserve to be eaten, but that's tantamount to arguing over the existence or value of the soul. And I think that's a philosophical question that falls in the realm of metaphysics, and maybe shouldn't be applied so dogmatically to anything, let alone dietary choices.

The moral question is whether or not one supports a cruel, unhealthy industry. I chose not to. However, I don't have a problem with anyone hunting for meat to eat for themselves and their family. I do have a problem with sport hunting (making a game out of death is pretty sick no matter how you slice it). As for vegetarians buying their food in stores and not growing it themselves...again...not quite the same. Last I checked, vegetables and fruits don't have nervous systems, so I doubt the industry is causing too much harm there. Regardless, I can't wait to live somewhere where I can have my own garden. I would love to grow most of my own food.

Anyway...enough comment for now...

Would you agree with meat-eaters going to the grocery store and buying Organic Free-range Meat?

(Please tell me I don't sound like a broken record)

I'm not sure how I could argue with it. i think as long as one is as conscious as one can be about where their food comes from ands tries to support cruelty-free sources of that food, then that's great.

Peta= People eating tasty animals...
I'm for whatever people want to do but I've worked at allot of resorts and became tired of these Neohippies shuving vegetarianism down my throat. It's just like everything else in life. Discuss but don't preach. Eat a well rounded diet and if it tries to eat you first then eat it before it succeeds. (yes I have had animals try to eat me...just a hazard of traveling... and some of them were kind of tasty)

Dude... That's a t-shirt, and not a particularly funny one. Not offensive, just kind of lame.